Favourite Hubble Picture

[kashi]

With the future of the Hubble Space Telescope somewhat uncertain, I thought it would be a good time to share our thoughts on some of the mysteries of the universe that the HST has helped unlock.

Please post a link to your favourite Hubble Space Telescope picture, and explain why it is your favourite. You can choose based on the scientific significance of the picture, or base your verdict on purely aesthetic concerns. It's completely up to you!

Please start posting while I decide on mine!

Kashi

[Haglund]

Som of my favourites (there are links to larger images) include:


Hubble Deep Field
Just a tiny fraction of the sky, that appeared almost empty, is filled with several hundreds of galaxies that we never knew were there! Imagine a deep field view in every direction of the sky! Mindboggling.

Whirlpool galaxy
Excellent perspective we have of this galaxy, almost from "above" (or "under"). The gas and dust, the red, white and blue stars, the nearly perfect spiral shapes, very very nice.

Dumbbell nebula (M27)
I like how we can see the gas blown away from the star, and according to the hubblesite, these "knots" of gas can be several tens of kilometers in size, yet only have the mass of a few earths.

Star V838 Monocerotis
Without a doubt the coolest pictures I've ever seen of a star. What we see in that series of pictures is the light from a strong outburst of that star, reflecting on surrounding gas as it hits it.

[Menikmati]

Ring Nebula

I don't know if its my favorite but one of them.

[kashi]

Okay, here's what I reckon. I've tried to pic different pics to those already shown.

Star V838 Monocerotis(a different pic to the one Parker linked to)

Chandra/HST composite of Crab nebula

M17 - "a perfect storm of turbulent gases"

I know this is supposed to be an astronomy forum, but I must admit that all my choices was based on aesthetic taste rather than scientific significance.

The Hubble Deep Feild photo that Parker linked to is truly amazing!!! I wonder if it's possible to get a large poster of that.

Kashi

[BobbyD]

I'll ALWAYS have a special place in my heart for the beautiful planet SATURN!!!...find it at http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2001/15...ts/full_jpg.jpg

[kashi]

Good choice! Next year we'll see some much better pictures of saturn from the Cassini spacecraft.

[Haglund]

Great choices! The Ring and the Crab neublae are two nice ones. I found M17 to be "dramatic" in some way, like a painting almost, only real. Saturn is always cool, very rewarding object to observe even with a modest telescope.

[ASH2162]

Hi All! I am happy to be a member of this great forum. I feel fortunate to have been able to view these magnificent pictures of our universe in my lifetime. My favorite however, is a video actually of a pulsar spinning and throwing off matter as it spins. I got the video off of an article posted on Space.Com (I think) and it is truly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. When I go home, I will try to post it here for all to see.

Photo wise, in my opinion, the Hubble wide field view in Ursa Major is probably the most incredible photograph ever taken in Human history. If one stares at that picture long enough, one comes to realize just how insignificant, precious, and distant we actutlly are. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of galaxies in that picture, galaxies that no human had ever seen until that moment that hubble took it. Truly awe inspiring.

I will not put it past mankind to one day be able to see back when the Universe began.

[kashi]

Welcome to the forum ASH2162! Indeed we are lucky to live in a age where technology enables us to begin unlocking the mysteries of the universe! Please stick around!

Kashi

[zephyr46]

ASH2162

My favorite however, is a video actually of a pulsar spinning and throwing off matter as it spins. I got the video off of an article posted on Space.Com (I think) and it is truly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

I think I know the one you are taliking about:
Crab Nebula Pulsar Movie

Did you know there was sound to go with it?
The Sound of Pulsars

[kashi]

Nice one.

[ASH2162]

Zephyr, that is the one, thank you for posting it!
That truly is an amazing video....I mean who ever thought a human would get to see this in our lifetime?

[Starry7]

That is a hard one, since there are so many good pictures. One of my recent favourites is NGC 604 in M33 (the Triangulum Galaxy, I think.) I got this picture off the Astronomy of the Day website, which quite often has pictures from Hubble.
In case you want to take a look, here's the link:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Have a great day. Bye.

[Matthew]

My favourite is a picture is a picture of the Cygnus Loop Supernova Blast Wave. Looks good. Its one of the pictures in my avatar, but I don't know from where on the NASA site I got the picture.

[zephyr46]

Ash2162, a composite picture
Crab Nebula at APOD


The M87 Jet taken by hubble still blows my mind. It Just looks so unreal, light a giant torch beam.



And from the Very Large Array also at APOD M87 at diferent wavelenghts

For beauty the reprocessed Lagoon Nebula, second only to the Rho Ophiucius Region.



For scientific value The Hubble Deep Field



And because I live in the land down under Deep Field South



I'm not going to apologise for it The Eagle Nebula, the most well known Hubble Image.



What more could possibly be said for such amazing images. But Fans of HST will well remember two more images from last year, when Hubble was upgraded,

The Tadpole



and

When Mice Collide


Who would say that Hubble Space Telescopes contribution to astromony hasn't been HUGE

[Faulkner]

I have always found Hubble images of the Hourglass Nebula to be somewhat hypnotizing...!?

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/stars/hourg...lass-browse.jpg

:wacko:

[damienpaul]

Woah, i see what you mean Faulkner!!! and who's beady eye is that?

[kashi]

Some great contributions here. Keep up the good work everyone.

[damienpaul]

One of my favourite pictures is at:

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/...leases/2003/32/

truly spectacular!

[kashi]

An excellent contribution. Let's see if we can get 50 pictures here and then we'll vote for the top 10!

[damienpaul]

excellent idea! although I am impartial to the 2 that I have eluded to and to saturn mentioned earlier

[railer]

Hi,
Been trying to find a specific video of Hubble images and wondered if you folks might be able to help.
It was posted on a web site about 1-year ago. Made by an Australian fellow and for sale for about $10 US. My girlfriend got a URL for preview of it in an email, but never bookmarked it and deleted the email accidentally. It had music on it, not much or no narration. Just beautiful images of space shot by the Hubble and beautiful music, possibly classical (definitely not disco). No animation on it. Key point is the Australian author.

Help!
Railer

[ngc3314]

My favorite Hubble image so far? Hmm, let's see - sitting on my hands, trying not to say it or type it even though the designation trips right off my fingers... but NGC 6621/2, NGC 1409/10, the 53W002 young galaxies, the spiral radio galaxy 0313-192, and gas stripping in Abell 2125 all strike chords as well.